Anyone who’s attempted to format a children’s picture book for a print and a Kindle version will know what I’m talking about. Everything that looked good on a printed paper suddenly turns into a mess on your mobile phone’s display. The text boxes get misplaced, the images don’t fit in properly, and the bright colors from the printed version appear dull on a tablet.
This is one of the biggest struggles that new writers come across, but it is not talked about as openly as it should be. Most resources give you the advice of “just exporting to both formats.”
This article explains the issues that an author may face while formatting a children’s book to be released in two versions, and offers practical solutions to all of those problems.
Why Print and Digital Formatting Are Fundamentally Different Problems
In order to address the issues, it is important to understand where the problems originate. The printed book consists of fixed items with a certain size of pages, bleed and trim lines. In contrast to printed material, reflowable EPUB books are designed to fit different screen sizes and fonts and even different positions. Children’s books, in contrast to any other type of the book, relies strongly on the positioning of the text relative to illustration and, therefore, the process of reflowing, which works perfectly well for text ebooks, destroys the layout of the picture book.
The above stated is the main challenge. While picture books have to have a fixed layout in order to maintain the connection between text and image, the majority of ebook systems assume a flexible text. To solve the problem you should consider the design of print and ebook as two different processes, but with the same content.
Problem 1: Image Resolution That Works for Both Formats
The printing process requires a high resolution of 300 DPI to prevent pixilation of the image when printed on the paper. When it comes to digital screens, however, 72-150 DPI will suffice, and large files may delay loading or formatting.
The fix: The illustrations that you design should be done in print resolutions (300 DPI) first. It is much easier to resize an illustration to smaller sizes for digital purposes than it is to enlarge a small-sized illustration for print purposes, because when you do this, you end up with blurry and pixelated pages. It would be wise if you had two different folders for the images.
Problem 2: Color Mode Mismatches
It confuses most people who write a book for the very first time. CMYK color mode is used in the printing process, whereas RGB is used in computer screens. The reason why most books appear distorted when printed is because the book was made using RGB colors and sent straight to the print on demand company. It’s particularly harmful when used in a children’s book.
The fix: Design in RGB for the richest color range, then convert a separate copy to CMYK specifically for your print files, and proof it before finalizing. Most print-on-demand services and platforms used for self-publishing provide free digital proofs always order one before approving a print run.
Problem 3: Fixed Layout vs. Reflowable Text
This is the one thing that can make all the difference in the format of children’s books becoming electronic. EPUB files are automatically formatted to flow the text based on the size of the screen, which works fine for a novel but kills picture books, where text is meant to be next to or over an illustration. Your spreads can become lost text boxes.
The fix: Use a fixed-layout format for digital editions. If you’re publishing independently, amazon kindle direct publishing self publishing supports Kindle Kids’ Book Creator, a free tool built specifically to preserve the picture-book layout on digital devices. It lets you place text pop-ups over illustrations and preview exactly how each page will appear on a Kindle Fire, phone, or tablet before you publish. This single step solves most of the layout distortion issues authors run into when self-publishing picture books.
Problem 4: Trim Size and Bleed for Print
First-time writers may often forget to include the additional margin required in order to ensure that the images which touch the page borders do not have any unwanted white border due to the margin being trimmed away. This along with wrong trim size settings is probably the most common cause of printing problems.
The fix: Set your document dimensions to include a 0.125-inch bleed on all sides from the very start of your design process, not as an afterthought. Every major print-on-demand platform provides trim size templates, use them exactly, and never eyeball your margins.
Problem 5: Choosing the Right Publishing Path
This is one point where most authors reach the fork in the road; will you format by yourself or go with the traditional route? Formatting requirements of both paths are very different.
When opting for self-publishing through websites like amazon kindle direct publishing self publishing, you are left completely in charge of formatting both your print and digital files. Although you will be doing everything on your own or will have to hire someone to do it for you, you will have total freedom to make all the decisions regarding how your book is going to look when printed or published digitally. This path is ideal for writers who value time and freedom above all else.
However, when it comes to submitting manuscripts to publishers of children’s books, the process changes once again. Most children’s book publishers usually prefer a manuscript to be submitted in a simple format, without any illustrations because they already have in-house teams which do the formatting for them after the manuscript has been accepted. In fact, too much formatting might even harm your chances because publishers for children’s books would like to see the story and the artwork as separate entities.
Knowing which path you’re on before you start formatting saves enormous time. Authors who format extensively for self-publishing, then decide to submit to publishers for children’s books, often have to undo most of that work.
Problem 6: Testing Across Real Devices
A layout that looks flawless on your laptop can break entirely on an actual Kindle Paperwhite, an older tablet, or a phone in landscape mode. This is one of the most overlooked steps in the entire process, and it’s where most last-minute formatting disasters are discovered usually after the book is already live.
The fix: Before publishing, preview your file on at least three different devices or screen sizes. amazon kindle direct publishing self publishing offers a free previewer tool inside the dashboard that simulates several device types, and it’s worth using every single time you upload a revised file, not just the first time.
Problem 7: Keeping File Versions Organized
Once you’re juggling a print-ready PDF, a fixed-layout EPUB, and possibly a separate file for wide distribution, it’s easy to accidentally upload an outdated version or mix up which file has the latest text edits.
The fix: Create a simple naming system from day one and update both files together every time you make a change, even a small one. This sounds obvious, but it’s one of the most common (and most avoidable) errors authors make when self-publishing across multiple formats.
Bringing It All Together
Formatting a children’s book for print and digital formats is not a single process but two different processes that must be considered from the very beginning. Format the book at print resolution, use color properly, use the fixed layout feature in your digital format program, take into account your bleed and trim sizes, and test the output on actual devices. In case you are going to self-publish your book, Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing self-publishing allows you to format your book in print and digital formats by yourself if you have enough knowledge about how the process works and what pitfalls there are in it. In case you are going to go for the traditional route, it is important to note that most publishers of children’s books will handle the final formatting by themselves.
In any case, the authors who do not fall into formatting disasters are those who consider their print and digital book as two different formats from the very beginning.
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